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The battle for women’s votes · The Front

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: It's Friday, October eleventh. Prime Minister Anthony Albaniezi has called
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: out China's maneuvering in the South China Sea in a
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  Speaker 1: speech to the Asian Summit. The PM says international waterways
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: should remain open. A bombshell revelation from a new episode
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: of the Australian's investigative podcast Bromwyn. John Winfield fathered a
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  Speaker 1: child in nineteen seventy two when he was a teenager.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Now his long lost daughter has come forward to try
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: and help solve the suspected murder of the woman Winfield
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: married more than a decade later. John Winfield has always
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: denied any involvement in Bromwin's disappearance or suspected murder. Episode
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  Speaker 1: thirteen of Bromwyn is available now for the Australian subscribers
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  Speaker 1: us to listen at Bromwin podcast dot com. Abortion was
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  Speaker 1: not an issue in the Queensland election until suddenly it
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  Speaker 1: very much was today. How a rogue issue took off
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  Speaker 1: in the down and dirty campaign that's suddenly taken an
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  Speaker 1: unexpected twist.
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  Speaker 2: Do you know my position neither of those part of
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  Speaker 2: our plan.
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  Speaker 1: And this is Queensland Opposition leader David Chris a fully
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  Speaker 1: on the campaign trail as he storms through Queensland, and.
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  Speaker 3: I have been very, very firmly I'm not going.
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  Speaker 1: To And this is The Australian's reporter, Lydia Lynch, and.
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  Speaker 3: My position is there will be no change. I'm being
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  Speaker 3: upfront with you.
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  Speaker 1: I'm telling you there will be no change.
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  Speaker 4: Can you please? That is as definitive as I can be.
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  Speaker 2: And on either of those issues.
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  Speaker 1: I've been very upcut Lydia has been on the trail
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  Speaker 1: with Chris fully visiting farms and factories and burning up
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  Speaker 1: miles of freeway and every time he steps off the bus, Lydia,
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  Speaker 1: is there too.
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  Speaker 3: That others are trained see from the people in your
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  Speaker 3: own party that are talking about it, mister Chrystal fully so,
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  Speaker 3: I think it's a fair question to ask if your
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  Speaker 3: positioned from twenty twenty two.
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  Speaker 1: It's about abortion, an issue that has done what issues
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  Speaker 1: do to leaders in election campaigns, that is, it's gone wild.
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  Speaker 1: Abortion as a policy went from being a nothing burger
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  Speaker 1: to a very big something burger that no matter what
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  Speaker 1: he does, Chris Fooley can't get rid of.
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  Speaker 4: In Queensland.
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  Speaker 3: Usually a politician can be facing scrutiny and then just
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  Speaker 3: stuck up to the regions for a couple of days
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  Speaker 3: to take the heat off. But in an election campaign
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  Speaker 3: there's an entire contingent of press gallery journalists following them
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  Speaker 3: around all day, every day, so that scrutiny just is magnified.
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  Speaker 1: Here's Lydia. She's us come from a sugar refinery visit
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  Speaker 1: with Chris A Foley.
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  Speaker 3: We went down the road about an hour from Makai
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  Speaker 3: today to a town called Serena and we did a
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  Speaker 3: bit of a tour of a sugar refinery there and
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  Speaker 3: we got to watch over chrisa fully taste. I don't
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  Speaker 3: know how many different types of rum he tasted, but
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  Speaker 3: I'm sure he was happy.
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  Speaker 4: He did the press conference before that tour.
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  Speaker 1: Did you get any room? No?
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  Speaker 4: I stayed clear. I had stories left to right.
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  Speaker 1: Here's the state of play in Queensland. As in the
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  Speaker 1: rest of Australia, abortion is basically safe, legal and rare.
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  Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, the Labor government in Queensland removed abortion
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  Speaker 1: from the criminal Code.
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  Speaker 3: Before that, it was a crime to have an abortion
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  Speaker 3: in Queensland. When the laws passed in twenty eighteen, the
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  Speaker 3: l ANDP gave its MPs a conscience vote on the bill,
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  Speaker 3: which means they're allowed to vote how they personally feel,
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  Speaker 3: they don't have to vote on party line, and every
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  Speaker 3: single LMP MP voted to keep abortion in the criminal
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  Speaker 3: Code except for three MPs. That was Tim Nichols, Jan
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  Speaker 3: Stuckey and Steve Minniken. They faced serious styclash from party
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  Speaker 3: members and also from the Liberal National Party headquarters, which
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  Speaker 3: threatened all three of their pre selections for the next election.
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  Speaker 3: So ahead of the last election, I put questions to
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  Speaker 3: the then leader deb Preclington asking what the plans were
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  Speaker 3: on abortion.
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  Speaker 4: She said to me, if.
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  Speaker 3: They were elected, she would bring about a review to
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  Speaker 3: look at lowering that gestation limit from twenty two weeks
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  Speaker 3: and maybe putting in some sort of compulsory counseling for
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  Speaker 3: women that were seeking an abortion.
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  Speaker 4: They didn't win that election, so this issue kind of
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  Speaker 4: died off.
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  Speaker 3: Everything changed this week when video emerged two of David
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  Speaker 3: Chrisofulli's LMP MPs making comments.
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  Speaker 4: Of public forums.
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  Speaker 3: One of those was Tony Perritt, he's a front bed,
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  Speaker 3: he's a member for Gimp He was asked about abortion
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  Speaker 3: at a public forum and he said, you know, I've
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  Speaker 3: always voted against it and I'll continue to do so
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  Speaker 3: into the future. But really the big quotes that really
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  Speaker 3: kicked it off was from a long serving backbench at
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  Speaker 3: John Crowsey. He represents the area of scenic Rim, which
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  Speaker 3: is just sort of southwest of Brisbane.
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  Speaker 2: I see some serious issues with the present law and
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  Speaker 2: would certainly be a part of bringing about like minded
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  Speaker 2: members to try and deal with those issues.
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  Speaker 3: That really sent a red flag out to voters that
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  Speaker 3: it might not be such a decided issue amongst the
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  Speaker 3: L and P if there's people inside David Chrysofili's party
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  Speaker 3: room that are signaling their plans to either roll back
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  Speaker 3: the legislation or at least put in some more restrictions
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  Speaker 3: around abortion.
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  Speaker 1: What do you make of the way he's responding to it, Lydia,
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  Speaker 1: He just doesn't want to talk about it, does he?
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  Speaker 3: All Right? I think I've asked him about abortion for
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: four or five days in a row. It became again
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  Speaker 3: a more heightened issue for him when Robbie Cutter, who's
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  Speaker 3: a crossbencher in Queensland, he committed to introducing legislation straight
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  Speaker 3: away into the Parliament after the election that would either
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  Speaker 3: repeal or make it harder to get an abortion in Queensland.
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  Speaker 4: Essentially.
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  Speaker 3: Traditionally in the LMP, there's a really long standing practice
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  Speaker 3: that on matters of life or death, MPs are given
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  Speaker 3: a conscience vote, so they don't have to vote on
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  Speaker 3: the party lines.
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  Speaker 4: They can make up their own mind.
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  Speaker 3: But David crucifully for four days, has refused to guarantee
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  Speaker 3: that his MPs will have a conscience vote on this.
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  Speaker 3: He can say every day it's not part of my plan,
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  Speaker 3: and it might not be part of his plan, but
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  Speaker 3: it's part of Robbie Cutter's plan to introduce this legislation.
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  Speaker 3: And there are quite a number of MPs in the
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  Speaker 3: L and P party room and also candidates that are
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  Speaker 3: running and winnable seats who have very staunch pro life views.
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  Speaker 3: And I don't think on an issue like abortion, which
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  Speaker 3: is a very emotive issue for a lot of people
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  Speaker 3: and a lot of MPs, if there's a bill before
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  Speaker 3: the House and that's going to put some restrictions around it,
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: and you're a very pro life person, it's hard to
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: see how they would not vote to support that legislation.
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  Speaker 1: So Labor has very successfully set a trap or created
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: a wedge where Chris and Foley is now every day
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  Speaker 1: having to talk about this the thing that he wants
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: to talk about.
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  Speaker 3: Least right, he's completely wedged on this issue, and that's
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: why he's not saying whether or not he's going to
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  Speaker 3: give his MPs a conscience vote, because if he does
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: give them a conscience vote, he'll be very likely renegging
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  Speaker 3: on his promise that there'll be no changes. But if
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: he doesn't give them a conscience vote, they'll be complete
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: uproar in the LMP, because, like I said, it's a
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  Speaker 3: really long standing practice in the party that they can
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  Speaker 3: vote freely on matters of life and death. I think
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: the way that it will have the most cut through
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  Speaker 3: is with social media, and Labour's really ramming this on
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  Speaker 3: their social media advertising.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Coming up the Labor candidate's own car crash moment. In
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  Speaker 1: every election campaign, there's a lot of serious policy being
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: discussed and then there's just silly moments of joy that
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: must make your life with living as a reporter on
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  Speaker 1: the campaign trail, Lidia, like when the premier forgot the
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  Speaker 1: name of his own Labor candidate, tell me what happened.
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  Speaker 4: Oh, yes, I was fun.
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  Speaker 3: We were out following Steven Miles as he was campaigning
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  Speaker 3: in one of the cada's Australia Party seats of Morani.
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  Speaker 3: The premier spent two days in that seat and a
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  Speaker 3: few of US journalists noticed that we hadn't seen Labour's
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  Speaker 3: key ended it for that seat, despite two visits in
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: two days. So one of the other reporters asked him,
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  Speaker 3: you know where is your candidate for Marannie and the
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  Speaker 3: Premier's answer he said, oh, I'm not sure where they are.
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  Speaker 4: I'll find out. I'll find out where the how I
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  Speaker 4: let you know. And as soon as he said day,
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  Speaker 4: I got a bit suspicious.
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  Speaker 3: I thought, Oh, he doesn't know this candidate's name.
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  Speaker 4: Candidate, I don't have that detail in front of me.
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  Speaker 3: You don't know the name of the cadidate that's running
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  Speaker 3: in the seat that you're in today.
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  Speaker 4: Susan, Yeah, of course it's Susan. Yeah. I was with
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  Speaker 4: it the other night.
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  Speaker 3: Luckily for the Premier, his deputy Cameron Dick was standing
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  Speaker 3: behind him and could offer up Susan Teddy's name to
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: the Premier. But I was a bad gaff and really
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  Speaker 3: you think the premier would be being briefed by the
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  Speaker 3: gaggle of advisors that are following him around the state.
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  Speaker 1: How did he recover from that and what do you
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  Speaker 1: think it tells us about how he's enjoying the campaign.
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  Speaker 3: The Premier does seem to be pretty upbeat throughout the
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  Speaker 3: campaign for somebody that's on track to lose according to
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: every opinion poll that's been published for a year.
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: Though he didn't seem too happy with the media.
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  Speaker 3: The next day, he didn't go as far as apologizing
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: to Susan Tedder for forgetting her name, but you know,
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: he said, I'm going to forget things from time to
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  Speaker 3: time and if you all want to make that your
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: the lead of your bulletins, that's up to you.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: He's taken a bit of a hospital pass, has any
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: of this premiere He took over from Anastasia Palache, a
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  Speaker 1: long serving and very dominant character in Queensland politics, and
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  Speaker 1: now he's the one left to steer the ship away
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  Speaker 1: from the rocks, if you can.
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  Speaker 3: And that's the feedback that we're already hearing, or I
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: guess the line that's already been fed to some journalists
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: from people inside the Labor government is that Anasja Palache
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: should have left sooner to give Stephen Miles time to
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: make his mark. But you know, Queensland is a weird
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: stage and although all signs are pointing to a pretty
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: strong Labor defeat, things can change here. As Scott Morrison
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: discovered at the twenty twenty two election, Queensland was a
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: state that delivered him that miracle victory. So it'll really
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: depend on how the next two weeks of campaigning goes
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  Speaker 3: for both leaders.
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  Speaker 4: I think.
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  Speaker 1: Biddy Lynch is the Australian's Queensland political reporter. Queenslanders go
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: to the polls on October twenty six and we'll be
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: bringing you all the thrills and spills at the Australian
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: dot com dot au